Three Fun Facts about the Limelight Marketplace

Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for The Goods by Vox. You can also see what we’re up to by signing up here.

The New York Times profiles the Limelight Marketplace, the soon-to-open mall in a decommissioned Sixth Avenue church that used to host the infamous nightclub of the same name. Three snippets of information that we hadn't heard before:

1.) The mall's developer, Jack Menashe, turns out to be highly ambivalent about the building's storied history. "'We wanted that feeling of discovery, like you're finding something new and exciting around every corner,' said Mr. Menashe, who said he had gone to the Limelight in the late 1980s about 10 times. 'But we really don't want to be that associated with the past.'"

2.) Speaking of said history, here's an ironic fact about the church's transition from house of worship to house of nightlife: "The Episcopal Church then sold the property to the Odyssey Institute, a drug-counseling organization, for $495,000, before the club mogul Peter Gatien bought it for $1.65 million in 1983."

3.) The building is about 90 percent leased, and some of the slots are going to big names. We knew Hunter Boots was coming in, but we had no idea about Le Sportsac. Also, in true mall fashion, expect to see some repeats: "Some tenants have taken more than one spot, like Brocade Home, a SoHo store, which will use nine berths on the second floor and one on the ground floor."
· The Limelight, a Church Turned Nightclub, to Be Reborn as a Market [NYT]
· RackedWire: Limelight Opening Date [Racked NY]
· Storecasting: Limelight Marketplace Progress Report [Racked NY]